The present invention relates to the field of computer software and internet applications. More specifically, the invention relates to software enabling the integration, annotation, curation and visualization of data retrieved from a heterogeneous set of sources using a collaboratively editable set of documents and data represented in a semantic graph.
Presently, data integration solutions focus on technical mappings of data types and federated access to data sources. What is missing is to treat this process not as a single, one shot step, but rather as an evolving process. In the areas of knowledge and document management, devices known as “wikis” recently emerged as a popular tool to support the process of collectively, creating, discussing, correcting, extending and evolving a set of documents. “Wikis” can be defined as one possibility for having several users edit a set of hyperlinked documents in a collaborative fashion.
What is needed is a solution that brings these paradigms and principles to the world of (semi)-structured data. Terms, relationships and data mappings need to be documented in textual form such that they can be collaboratively used and refined. Users also need to continuously view and monitor the contents of the unified data storage in order to correct import mappings or find new relationships.